Follow us: Research Brief February 2017 RETAIL SALES Developing Trends ■ As e-commerce has grown to represent 12 percent of retail sales, the two largest retailers are pursuing different strategies to drive revenue growth. Wal-Mart recently acquired Moosejaw, which follows the 2016 purchase of Jets.com, in order to drive more traffic to its web […]

Follow us: Research Brief January 2017 HOUSING Developing Trends ■ The available existing single-family homes for sale reduced to just 3.6 months of supply in December based on the current sales pace, an all-time low. With steady demand for homes and inventory tightening dramatically during the year, existing single-family home prices edged up 3.8 […]

Follow us: Research Brief January 2017 EMPLOYMENT Important Factors ■ December employment growth of 156,000 jobs moderated from the pace seen through much of 2016. Yet, given that the economy is approaching full employment, job creation above 100,000 positions per month is more than enough to match labor force growth. ■ Education and health services […]